ELIZABETHTOWN — Roger’s Wish is returning this fall.
The Bladen Journal will partner with Maria Bryant to make the 2013 idea of Roger Grunder, Maria’s brother, a reality once more. New and gently used blankets and sleeping bags can be donated throughout October for the cause, then will be distributed to the needy in early November.
Grunder was a fixture in Elizabethtown, a homeless man by choice for the final 19 years of his life. It was in the summer of 2013 that he talked of a blanket and sleeping bag drive to benefit the area homeless and needy.
He died in a car crash just as the Bladen Journal partnered with him the first year.
The newspaper, displaced by a fire in downtown Elizabethtown in March, has a temporary home at 207 E. Broad St. in the building that houses the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Many recall this being the original post office building. It is on the corner of Broad and Cypress streets, across from the new fire station. It is a next-door neighbor of the Bladen County Public Library.
Collections are open starting Monday and running through October. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Additionally, there will be collection sites at the Bladen County Public Library on Cypress Street in Elizabethtown, and at the ABC store on West Broad Street in Elizabethtown.
Distribution is scheduled for Nov. 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., or until donations run out.
In past years, this has been an opportunity for church groups, youth groups, school groups, company groups, etc., to participate in a month-long challenge to collect blankets and sleeping bags.
More information is available by calling the newspaper at 910-862-4163 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.
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